Greetings from Minot, North Dakota
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Nodak Speedway
Dirt oval
Lifetime Track #647
Reprinted with permission from my Sunday, July 13, 2003, Trackchaser Report. THE CLASSIC TRACKCHASER REPORT Editor’s note: This is a CLASSIC Trackchaser Report. What the heck does “Classic” mean? It’s simply a Trackchaser Report that comes from my trackchasing archives. Typically these will be stories from tracks I visited five years or ten years or more ago. For whatever reason (usually not enough time) it didn’t get posted to my website when I first made the track visit. Often a classic TR will not have a video and/or photo album attached. I didn’t begin producing my YouTube videos until 2009 (YouTube channel: RANLAY). I didn’t begin writing a complete Trackchaser Report until I had seen about 425 tracks. Photo albums were sort of hit or miss during the early years of my trackchasing. Additionally, if you see a website link know that link worked when the TR was originally written. Will it work now? Your guess is as good as mine! Nevertheless, this CLASSIC Trackchaser Report has finally bubbled to the surface and is now available for everyone to see at www.randylewis.org. I hope you enjoy it. I AM A TRACKCHASER. My name is Randy Lewis. (above with the legendary Leonard Wood of the Wood Brothers Racing NASCAR team) I hail from the sleepy little village by the sea, San Clemente, California. I am a “trackchaser”. I trackchase. Have you ever in your life heard of “trackchasing”? I didn’t think so. Well, you made it this far. You might as well pour yourself a cold one and take your Trackchasing 101 class. When you finish you’ll have your trackchasing diploma and can then teach your friends about the hobby. Let’s get started. Trackchasing is a three-pronged hobby. I’m a racing fan. I love to travel. I love to analyze opportunities to get the most out of everything while saving time and money. Let’s do this by the numbers. I live in southern California. That’s probably the most inconvenient location in the country for seeing tracks in the U.S. Most of the racetracks in the U.S. are located well over 1,000 miles from where I live. My average trip covers 5,000 miles and more. I take 35-40 of those trips each season. In any given year I will travel well over 200,000 miles, rent more than 50 cars, and stay in more than 150 hotel rooms. I get the chance to meet people from all over the world. With trackchasing trips to 85 countries and counting just getting the chance to experience so many unique cultures, spend time in the homes of my friends and meet so many people is a huge reward for being in this hobby. I am indebted to several of these folks for their help and friendship. Once you begin researching my trip itineraries from my website, yes you will want to do that, you will be surprised. One day I’ll be in Tucson, the next in maybe Tuscaloosa and the following day in Syracuse. I do that kind of thing all the time. Figuring out the logistics of a trip like that is as much fun for me as watching a figure 8 race. Now you know a little bit about my trackchasing addiction. When you receive one of my Trackchaser Reports or find one on my website at www.randylewis.org you’ll get three pieces of entertainment. First, my Trackchaser Report will be an in-depth essay on how the trip went from A-Z. Yes, I’ll cover the racing aspect of things. But you will also hear about what it took to pull off the trip, the special stops that made the trip fun and the obstacles that needed to be overcome. Secondly, you’ll get a YouTube video of the racing action I saw. These are normally short 3-6 minutes highlights of the racing. My YouTube channel is named, “RANLAY”. I have nearly 2,000 subscribers to my channel. Currently, I have posted more than 1,300 videos and my channel has more than 1.2 million views! Finally, I’ll share a captioned photo album using a photo-sharing program called SmugMug. Normally, there will be anywhere from 50-200 photos from each trip I take. Sometimes more! My website is linked to hundreds of thousands of photos from all of the trips I have taken. There you have it. That’s trackchasing…the way I do it. Do others trackchase? Absolutely. Do they share their experiences? Sorry. They don’t. If you want to see the true “essence” of trackchasing you’ve come to the right place. A common question I get about my hobby is, “Why?”. I’m a curious fellow. I’m an adventuresome fellow. My hobby is about seeing and experiencing the things that most folks walk right past. Below is a link to a special video. It shows a small town in Missouri that I visited on one of my trips. In this video, I’ll share with you exactly what I mean. This video might just make your day. Trackchasing….this is exactly why I do it Today’s adventure was one more of the 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the proverbial long and dusty trackchasing trail. If you would like to see where I’ve been and experience those adventures here’s the link: If you’ve got a question, comment or whatever please leave it at the bottom of this report. It’s very easy to do. Or you can visit me on Facebook. Thanks! FOREWORD Sunday, July 13, 2003. Greetings from Minot, North Dakota, Today is day three of the Dakota Modified Tour race trip. We debated whether or not to go to Minot based upon a questionable weather forecast. I use www.weather.com which is the Weather Channel web site. Last night they said there was a 60% chance of rain in Minot for tonight. Based upon that data we had decided to drive south to Lisbon, ND where the forecast was for 0% chance of rain. This morning we made one last check and, miraculously, Minot rain probability had changed from 60% to 0%. Minot was back on the plan! Before we left Jamestown we had an early lunch at Grizzlies. This is a small chain of restaurants in Minnesota and North Dakota. It seems that Jamestown, ND is the Buffalo capital of the world. That being the case I went with the Buffalo burger special. It was tasty. Another item on the menu was “Walleye Fingers”. I never had that and hope I never do. After Grizzlies we made a quick trip to the National Buffalo Museum. Not much there other than some old west buildings, one room schoolhouses, etc. We also took a short tour of Jamestown College (since 2013 known as the University of Jamestown). Their campus is very picturesque and is right out of the movie, Love Story. Today’s drive is about four hours up to Minot. That is the longest single day drive Carol and I will make while she’s out on the trip. Editor’s note: I’m typing this report as Carol drives us down the highway westward on Interstate 94. A large semi-truck carrying large bales of hay has just turned over in front of us. A few people have stopped to help as the driver is still inside. There wasn’t much more additional help we could provide so we continued. The in-car thermometer reads 98 degrees and it is windy. There’s not a lot to see and do in North Dakota while driving along the interstate. We did stop at a highway rest area and discovered a large open-air circus-type tent. They were having some special activity around the Lewis and Clark exhibition. We drifted over to the tent and found a fellow reenacting some of the L&C historical scenes. This was being done in 100-degree heat out in the middle of a grassy field. Our interest waned after about five minutes and, as they say, we were off to the races. You might want to check out my Trackchasing Tourist Attractions tab. I’ve toured the North Dakota State Capitol building and visited the Roger Maris Museum among other North Dakota highlights. I’ve also seen a hockey match at the University of North Dakota. Except for seeing a Stanley Cup final in Anaheim featuring the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and the Ottawa Senators that hockey game in ND was my most memorable hockey experience yet. Touring is as important as racing in my trackchasing hobby. As we got nearer to Minot the skies started to get dark and the temperature dropped from 101 to 88. Was our 0% rain chance suddenly going back to 60%? As we pulled into to Minot and then into the North Dakota State Fairgrounds home of Nodak Speedway it began to sprinkle. The skies looked bad. There was one clear blue bright spot over in the southeastern corner of the sky. It sprinkled lightly, long enough to wash off all of our windshield bugs. Then that clear blue-sky patch began to get bigger and bigger and before long the bad sky was gone and it was all good sky. We would see racing. Rental car mileage when I entered these states during the trip: North Dakota – 262 Minneapolis, Minnesota Airport pickup – 0 RACING NEWS: The Nodak Speedway was my 647th track and Carol’s 138th track to see. Admission to the speedway was $10. Since this is the state fairgrounds, the grandstand is large and covered. Tonight’s event included three classes: IMCA modifieds (40), street stocks (15) and hobby stocks (25). We got into the stands about 15 minutes before the heat races began. I sent my new somewhat abbreviated trackchaser note up to the grandstand. A few minutes later, a gentleman by the name of Larry McFall was tapping me on the shoulder. He was the co-announcer. He was impressed with this idea of trackchasing. He told me the Nodak Racing Club was the longest continuous running racing club in America having started in the early 50s. He asked if I would be comfortable talking to his other co-announcer at intermission in front of 5,000 people. Of course, I would. I am retired, and as others say, I have nothing else to do. Larry also gave me a copy of the Nodak Racing Club historical race program. This program details the history of the Nodak Racing Club and has many pictures in it from the early days of the club. It’s an excellent program. By the way, do other trackchasers get this question? When I’m asked how many tracks I’ve been too, and say 647, the questioner asks, “Is that all in one year?” When I say no they seem disappointed, not in their own question or listening skills but in the fact that I have not been able to squeeze in a lifetime of activity into just one year. Oh well, it’s fun to see their reaction once they really think about what it takes to get to this many tracks. The Nodak Speedway has a couple of excellent racing rules. First, like Jamestown, the night before the driver who CAUSES a yellow flag goes to the back. As an example, if a car gets sideways and two cars behind him spin to avoid him causing a yellow flag the guy who got sideways but did not spin goes to the back. I like that rule. Secondly, during the heat races only, a driver causing a yellow goes to the pits. This reduced the yellow flags in the heats to almost none. At intermission, I was called up to the announcing booth. It’s one of those booths that is on the same level as the fans so the crowd can easily see what is going on in the booth. The other co-announcer, Charlie Young, was about my age and a friendly fellow (what else would you expect in North Dakota?). He begin with this, “I’d like to introduce a visitor from San Clemente……. Richard Nixon!” At least he remembered that San Clemente was the Western White House of former President Nixon and the man most responsible for me serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. We went through the standard questions such as “Why do you do this?”, “What do you do for a living?”, “What’s your favorite type of racing”, “What do you think of our racetrack”, etc. We probably talked for 5 minutes or so. He did come up with one new question. Knowing that my wife was in the crowd, he asked, “What’s your wife’s name?” When I told him, “Carol”, his response was, “Carol, your husband needs help!” This crowd liked this comment. After both announcers allowed that they would like to have my job we bid each other adieu and the race program resumed. The features were good and we were out of the track by 10:45 p.m. We got lucky on the weather. I’ve seen 35 races this year (25 of them new tracks) and only been rained out one Friday night in North Carolina. That’s a pretty good weather record of accomplishment. Tomorrow it’s on to Saskatchewan, Canada for the second day of the Dakota Modified Tour and the fourth day of the trip. RENTAL CAR UPDATE: The National Rental Car Toyota Camry has racked up about 700 miles so far. That’s all the news that’s fit to print from San Clemente where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, all of the children are above average, I’m retired and every day seems like Saturday except the day the fat paper arrives, that must be Sunday. I can tell you that “The History of America’s Speedways – Past and Present” authored by Allan E. Brown has this to say about the Nodak Speedway. By the way, I can’t even imagine the level of research it took to make this book. There is a listing from virtually every racetrack that ever existed in the U.S. and Canada. It truly does border on the unbelievable. Well done! They first started racing at the North Dakota State Fairgrounds back in 1917. That’s more than 100 years ago as this is written! Wow. They continued until August 26, 1941 before stopping for World War II. They resumed racing on their ½-mile dirt oval on July 19, 1947 until July 23, 1960. They took a brief break and raced from July 27, 1962, through the end of the 1963 season. They started racing weekly in 1954. Then beginning in 1964 the track ran until 1977 on a shorter ¼-mile dirt track. The Nodak Speedway was also known as the Northwest Fairgrounds. In 1978 they made the track a little bigger. Now as a 3/8-mile dirt oval they have raced until this day. I found this entry on the racenodak.com website, penned by the track announcer I met all the way back in 2003, Larry McFall. “2020 marked the start of the 67th season for the Nodak Racing Club. The club is believed to be the longest-running un-interrupted race club in the nation. After World War II came to an end, the United States was trying to get back to life as we knew it before the wars. In the 1950s Auto Racing started to grow all over the Country. The club was started by a handful of young racing enthusiasts that enjoyed tinkering on and racing their cars against each other. However doing so on city streets and state highways was frowned upon by the local law enforcement groups, so they started looking for a place where they could race. The group of guys found an open area of land and quickly made it into an impromptu race track, which today is the location of the Nash Finch warehouse on Burdick and 16th Street. Later that year in 1951, they headed east just a little bit, where Jim Hill and Magic City Campus are currently located. The two areas were used to get together and “hot rod” around; they were not under an organized race format on a designated race track at that time. Editor’s note: I can tell you that during my business career, actually my first year with the company, I sold my first CARLOAD of products to the Nash Finch Company mentioned above at its Cedar Rapids, Iowa location. Let’s return to Larry’s commentary. In 1952 some of the past years racers along with a few new drivers decided they wanted more direction and organization. They made the decision to create a club, The Nodak Racing Club. The Nodak Racing Club was chartered in a local house on Burdick Expressway, the current location of the M&H Gas parking lot. Doug Amundson, Don Berg, Jim Bergo, Bill Delong, Lehre Evenson, Dave Hammer, Claude Hanson, Al Hochsprung, Andy Nikitenko, Gary Olson and Bob Rittgers became the founding fathers and the Charter Members of the club. With the help of one of its members, C. Morris Anderson, the race club had a place to race. He provided a spot on North Hill just west of the current North Hill Bowling Alley. The first real organized season of Auto Racing in Minot was ready in the summer of 1953 on the North Hill Track. The Markle and Thompson Construction Company helped build the track, and Lehre Evenson became the first President of the race club. After their incorporation as a group they drew up the first rules of racing for the track, from car and engine specifications to the organized race format itself. The members used old coupes and cars from the 30’s and 40’s. Many of the race cars had oil barrels for seats, and some had wood for wheels and doors, and it was not a surprise to see ropes as seat belts. The club ran a Class A and a Class B division in the early years. The A class being the large 8 cylinder motors, and the Class B being 8 cylinder flat heads or 6 cylinder motors. The first four seasons there was even a C Class for new racers. The club members decided that to grow the club, they needed a grandstand to put fans in instead of having them watch from the hood of their cars. Thus after one year on the North Hill Track, the club decided to strike a deal with the Fairgrounds for the 1954 season. They had a wood grandstand and horse race track already in existence, and had also held Auto racing at the track previously. Horse racing went away from the fairgrounds and track was then changed to two separate tracks for racing. They had a quarter mile track for regular shows, and a half mile track for large race events, such as the popular races during the State Fair. The State Fair was not designated the North Dakota State Fair until 1965. To this day the Nodak Speedway is still located at the fairgrounds. This period of time was known as the Golden Years of racing at the speedway, when the auto racing was at its high point in the state. A new second-generation state of the art metal grandstand was built in 1958, and was packed to the rafters every week for the races. In 1963, after years of coupe style cars, the club adopted the Super Modifieds and the Hobby Class as their two classes of cars. The club making the jump to open wheel race cars as one of the divisions was the largest changes to date for the Nodak Speedway. The Hobby Class consisted of 1950 model cars, and the Super Modified was what looked like a sprint car without wings. These classes remained steady until 1969, when a Super Sprint category was added to the show. The name tag of Super Modifieds went away the following year, leaving the Super Sprint class as the only open wheel class in the club format. In 1971, the club went to a new generation of car bodies changing the Hobby Stocks to a Modified Stock class. Since that 1971 season, many more classes of race cars have come and gone to what the club runs now. A Late Model division appeared in 1972, which were cars that had been produced in the 60’s and 70’s. In 1978 the club made another huge change by changing to just one track, a 3/8 of a mile track that at the time was advertised as the “fastest track in America.” As the club continued to grow to become one of the largest race clubs in the Midwest, a lot of different types of classes ran at the track, including Street Stocks, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks, Thunder Trucks, and the debut of the open wheel Modifieds in 1985. The club ran a Wissota Modified and Dakota Modified division, and now in 2015, the classes of Modifieds are IMCA Modifieds and Sport Modifieds. Legend cars were added to the regular program in 2005, which was the last class of cars added to date at the track. The classes going into the season of 2020 are IMCA Modifieds, Sport Mods, Stock Cars, Hobby stocks, and Sport-Compacts. To this day many drivers will still say that the Nodak Speedway still boasts the best competition level of all tracks in the state. Because of that it is one of the hardest places to win a championship at, or even one feature race. The Board of Directors of the club today are excited for the upcoming season and the continuing tradition of the Nodak Race Club. With car counts normally over 100 cars per night, the annual World of Outlaw sprint car show, and numerous special nights like the annual Dakota Classic Modified and Stock car tour, the club races into the future. A brand new third-generation state of the art grandstand is the new crown jewel of the fairgrounds. It has more available seating by far over the previous two grandstands, and is also a large bonus as the race club heads into the next decade of racing.” – Larry McFall, Nodak Hall of Fame Inductee The track website offered up an interesting Q&A section as well. We are always looking for volunteers! You can contact our Marketing Director at 822-7223 for more information. You can sign up your child at the suvenior trailer under the grandstand every week. Yes we do. You will not be able to participate if you do not have a working transponder or raceiver. Weekly Board meetings are Currently Monday’s at 7PM at the Sleep Inn in Minot, in the theater room across from the front desk. You may contact our Marketing Director at 822-7223 for inquires about performing during our intermission. You may contact Kristy Folstad at 701-263-7562 or kristyforthun@gmail.com to inquire about performing the National Anthem. Our Board of Directors will make a decision by 12pm noon on race day if weather is pertinent. If the races get rained out while we are racing you will get a rain check as long as all the heats have not been completed. If the heat races have been completed it is to be considered a completed show. You can get updates by texting “nodak” to 84483 Station 106.1 FM You might have remembrances about this track. If so, please feel free to share your memories in the comments section below. If you have any photos from back in the day, send them to me at Ranlay@yahoo.com. I’ll try to include them here. Thanks for reading about my trackchasing, Randy Lewis World’s #1 Trackchaser Peoria Old Timers Racing Club (P.O.R.C.) Hall of Fame Member That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report 
PEOPLE/TRAVEL NEWS
HOW CAN I VOLUNTEER FOR NODAK SPEEDWAY?
HOW DO I SIGN MY CHILD UP TO BE A TROPHY KID?
DO YOU REQUIRE TRANSPONDERS & RACEIVER’S TO RACE?
WHEN AND WHERE ARE THE WEEKLY BOARD MEETINGS LOCATED?
WHO CAN I CONTACT ABOUT PERFORMING/ENTERTAINING DURING INTERMISSION?
WHO CAN I CONTACT ABOUT PERFORMING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM?
WHAT IS YOUR RAIN OUT POLICY?
HOW CAN I GET UPDATES ON MY PHONE?
WHAT RADIO STATION AM I ABLE TO LISTEN TO THE ANNOUNCERS?
New racetracks visited in 2003
Planned new racetracks for 2003
MON
14-Jul
Dakota Modified Tour
Estevan Motor Speedway
Estevan, SK
TUE
15-Jul
Dakota Modified Tour
Williston-Basin Speedway
Williston, ND
WED
16-Jul
Dakota Modified Tour
Southwest Speedway
Dickinson, ND
THR
17-Jul
Dakota Modified Tour
Dacotah Speedway
Mandan, ND
FRI
18-Jul
Regular program
Cresco Speedway
Cresco, IA
FRI
18-Jul
Backup plan
Rapid Speedway
Rock Rapids, IA
FRI
18-Jul
Backup plan
River Cities Speedway
Grand Forks, ND
SAT
19-Jul
DAY
Jones County Fairgrounds
Monticello, IA
SAT
19-Jul
Early evening
Echo Valley Speedway
West Union, IA
SAT
19-Jul
Late evening
Nordic Speedway
Decorah, IA
SAT
19-Jul
Backup plan
Hampton, IA
SAT
19-Jul
Backup plan
Saaga International Raceway
Doyon, ND
SUN
20-Jul
Regular Program
Redwood Speedway
Redwood Falls, MN
SUN
20-Jul
Backup plan
Buffalo River Speedway
Moorehead, MN
FRI
1-Aug
Figure 8s
Chowchilla Speedway – F8
Chowchilla, CA
SAT
2-Aug
Figure 8s
Willow Springs Spdwy – F8
Rosamond, CA
FRI
15-Aug
Regular program
Hawthorne Centennial Speedway
Hawthorne, NV
SAT
16-Aug
Outlaw Karts
Thunderbowl Speedway
Carson City, NV
SAT
16-Aug
Figure 8s
Champion Speedway
Carson City, NV
FRI
22-Aug
Regular program
Winnemucca Regional Raceway
Winnemucca, NV
SAT
23-Aug
Regular program
Battle Mountain Speedway
Battle Mountain, NV
FRI
29-Aug
Figure 8s
Antelope County Frgrds
Lancaster, CA
FRI
7-Nov
SCRA Sprints
Perris Auto Speedway**
Perris, CA
SAT
8-Nov
Special
Irwindale Speedway**
Irwindale, CA